THE PEARS OF NEW YORK 



57 



CHAPTER II 



SPECIES OF PEARS AND THEIR CHARACTERS 



The pear belongs to the great order Rosaceae, the Rose Family. 

 There are about ninety genera in this family, the most important of all 

 botanical groups to growers of hardy fruits, of which ten or twelve bear 

 pome-fruits. Of the genera whose fruits are pomes, only two contain 

 important hardy fruits, namely, Pyrus, to which belong apples, crab- 

 apples, and pears; and Cydonia, the quince. Three other genera are of 

 lesser importance, but must be named to show their relationship to the 

 pear. These are Mespilus, the medlar, grown in Europe but little known in 

 America; Chaenomeles, the Japanese quince, well known as an ornamental, 

 the fruits of which are used for conserves; and Amelanchier, the Juneberry, 

 a common fruit in American forests. One other genus in this family has 

 possibilities for domestication but is not yet cultivated for its fruits in 

 America. This is Cratasgus, comprising the hawthorns and thorn-apples, 

 the fruits of which are edible and several species of which are cultivated 

 in various parts of the world as food plants. 



Nearly every botanist who has attempted to classify plants has grouped 

 the pome-fruits according to a plan of his own. There are, therefore, 

 several classifications of genera and species of the pomes, in consequence 

 of which the nomenclature is badly confused. A century ago the tendency 

 was for botanists to put in the genus Pyrus the apple, pear, crab-apple, 

 quince, medlar, sorbus, and chokeberry. The modern tendency is to 

 segregate these fruits in distinct genera in accordance with common names. 

 As a rule the differences which suggest a distinct common name suffice 

 for a botanical division. 



The pear and apple, however, are usually kept together in Pyrus, 

 and botanists generally agree that separation in species is sufficient, or, at 

 most, that the separation should not be greater than in two sections of 

 the genus. Happily, the difficulties of classification in botany trouble 

 little or not at all in pomology, as each of the pome-fruits constitutes a 

 distinct pomological group. The distinguishing characters of Pyrus are: 



Woody plants, trees or shrubs, with smooth or scaly bark. Leaves simple, or some- 

 times lobed, alternate, usually serrate, deciduous, with deciduous stipules which are free 

 from the petiole. Flowers perfect, regular, borne in compound terminal cymes; torus 

 urn-shaped, adnate to the ovary and inclosing it with thick, succulent flesh at maturity; 

 calyx-lobes 5, acuminate and reflexed, persistent in some and deciduous in other species; 



